Eiver Magenis (1830-1895) was born in and lived in Iveagh House, Aughantaraghan, and was a respected local farmer and agricultural innovator. He was the Irish agent for the improved plough made by Hornby & Sons[1] of Grantham, Lincolnshire, and travelled the country demonstrating it. He married Jane Madden in 1864.
A Fervent Nationalist
He was also a prominent and fiercely outspoken nationalist. He was a descendant of the Magennis clan, historic owners of large areas of Co Down to the east of Poyntzpass. Well-educated and erudite, Eiver frequently wrote to the newspapers, peppering his letters with Latin phrases and often mischievously signing himself ‘Iveagh’.
In August 1865 the Newry Reporter ran an article entitled ‘Fenianism near Poyntzpass’ asserting that Aughantaraghan was becoming a notorious hotbed of Fenianism, with reports of guns being moved around the area in a hay-cart. The story was picked up by newspapers throughout Ireland. Was it a coincidence that Eiver lived in Aughantaraghan?
Eiver was a strong supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell; as Parnell travelled by train to Belfast to attend a convention, Eiver and his family were seen in a field on their farm, next to the railway line, cheering and waving a green flag as Parnell’s train passed.
Important Enough To Spy On!
As a prominent nationalist, Eiver was, of course, a ‘person of interest’ to the authorities, and they regularly opened and read his letters. In this 1882 letter to the newspapers, he complains not about interference with his privacy, but that is not being done efficiently! He offers the authorities some suggestions for improvement, laced with his usual brand of satire and sarcasm.
He probably chose the title of his letter – A Reasonable Proposal – to evoke the spirit of Jonathan Swift’s famous pamphlet “A Modest Proposal” which (satirically) suggested eating babies as a solution to Irish famines. I think the subtext of the letter is “How could anyone in the RIC or the Castle Administration be stupid enough to think they will find anything incriminating in my letters as everyone who corresponds with me knows that they are opened and read by the authorities!?”
“LETTER-OPENING – A REASONABLE PROPOSAL
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMAN
Poyntzpass, 13th July 1882SIR – the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and their Hon Secretary have done their duty well respecting acceleration of the mails; might not they also give a helping hand in a kindred and important matter – acceleration of letter-opening – and urge a little more activity on the espionage department of the Irish Post Office? I do not complain of letter opening per se. That is one of the glorious privileges a free people are habitually permitted to enjoy by their masters abroad. We are seasoned – acclimatised to it. Nor that my correspondence should be “reasonably suspected”; that is the highest compliment the Garrison can pay our countrymen.
I only complain of the unnecessary delay; giving us too much sauce Roi Faineant [do-nothing king]. Extreme pressure of business from wholesale letter-opening may be pleaded fairly as an excuse; but could not they impress extra hands into the suspicion department? And would it be too much to expect that one day’s delay should suffice to read a suspected letter, note content, or copy and send it on? I enclose you envelope of letter written to me – Athy postmark, 8th July; Newry, 10th July; delivered to my messenger in Poyntzpass this morning, 13th July! And two others, one posted in Bandon 11th July; the other in Limerick, 11th July; Newry postmark, 12th July; yet delivered here today the 13th! From Dublin to Limerick is nearly thrice, Dublin to Bandon four times, the distance of Athy from Dublin. A non-suspected letter arrives from either of the former in one day and gets through; but it requires two days for the GPO imprimatur for the latter, when suspected!
Another suggestion – might one search suffice? The letter….., once, mightn’t the Espionage Department stamp it with their own trademark, a neat engraving of Paul Pry, Sir James Graham, or the “Mon-you-Ment…Healy” – allowing it to go to its address without further detention? As a rule, no blame attaches to the Dublin or local PO regular officials; they are courteous and obliging, only victims of the system. But five days from Athy to Poyntzpass (nine miles north of Newry) seems slow, with reverence be it spoken!
And I would not trouble you with the matter, a thing of everyday occurrence but with the fond hope that Mr Wigham might give us another report on the subject so pertinent to his last, and perhaps the Chamber of Commerce would humbly, respectfully, and deferentially bring it to the notice of the Postmaster-General, the special RM in charge, or Sir William Harcourt, and the rest of the royal family? The detective system hasn’t been an overwhelming success, the RIC is susceptible to improvement, but the great Letter Opening Department, beloved of the nation, shield, buckler, and protection of a few free people, shouldn’t be allowed to collapse, as unequal to its mission!
Eiver became a member of the Irish National League in early 1883. He stood as the League’s candidate for South Down in the 1892 General Election but was trounced; he got just 42 votes, a mere 0.5% of the total.
Eiver Magenis vs. The Railway Company
A fairly extraordinary case was heard at Poyntzpass Petty Sessions in August 1860 when Eiver was charged with having smashed the level-crossing gates through which he accessed his home at Iveagh House.
Eiver often found the gates closed when he tried to cross the track; eventually, frustrated, he smashed them off their hinges with a sledgehammer.
The D&BJR was supposed to employ someone to close the crossing gates for every train and open them when it had passed. This was originally a man called Dan Foley who was employed to do nothing else but look after the gates, for eight shillings a week. But, keen to save every possible penny, the railway company sacked Foley and employed George Hall at a mere four shillings a week. George was not only the keeper of the nearby canal lock but also farmed 19 acres; his task was impossible.
The magistrates found themselves having to fine Eiver a guinea as he had admitted criminal damage, but their sympathies clearly lay with him rather than the railway company. Eiver’s solicitor then announced to the court that they could expect to see him again in a fortnight when he would be bringing another Eiver’s negligence case against the D&BJR!
Eiver’s Heritage
Eiver was widely acknowledged as a direct descendent of the Magennis line. An article in the Cork Daily Herald in January 1892 about current-day Irish Chiefs looked at those who still enjoyed the ancient title “The” and stated:
“…Besides those, one Ivor MacGuinness, of Points Pass, looks with disdain at Lord Iveagh enjoying his (Ivor MacGuinness’s) title from a Saxon Sovereign.”
In a more just world, Eiver would probably have been “The Magennis”.
Death And Reputation
His funeral, in October 1895, was said to have been the largest ever held in Poyntzpass. His obituary in The Dundalk Democrat read:
“We have to announce with great regret the death of Mr Eiver Magennis, which took place on Friday at his residence, Poyntzpass, Newry. The deceased gentleman throughout his whole career was a staunch nationalist and supported both by influence and purse, every movement which has been inaugurated for this country’s benefit. He went to school with John Martin, with whom he kept up a lifelong intimacy. During the Fenian troubles, Mr McGuinness had to leave the country for Chicago where he spent three years. Deceased was one of the most prominent Parnellites in the north of Ireland.
Much later, at his widow’s funeral, the local priest said of Eiver:
“…the late Mr Magenis, by voice and pen, used his rare brilliant intellectual gifts to further the cause of those who were struggling against it [British rule in Ireland] at a time when many other people who should have been in the forefront were apathetic, if not hostile, for he was a man who staunchly opposed all forms of injustice and oppression.”
In a report on his daughter Catherine’s death in 1940, the Portadown News said:
“…Eiver Magenis, one of the most progressive farmers of his day, as well as being widely-travelled and noted for his patriotic enthusiasm during Land League times, and his unflinching devotion to ‘The Chief’ during the Parnellite crisis.”
The Other Eiver Magenis, and The Crock of Gold
In its 13th June 1891 edition, The Flag of Ireland published the following letter from Eiver in its regular ‘North and South’ column. It refers to one of Eiver’s ancestors, also a called Eiver and also fiercely Nationalistic.
“In your always most interesting column or two… you give us … what you call a remarkable illustration of the fact that superstition is still a very potent force among the Irish, even the Irish who have lived for many years in countries that are more sceptical than our own. No, not superstition exactly, but force of imagination… History repeats itself, and here is my curious story, apropos of your clipping.
“A man to whom Teeling[2] in his ‘Personal Narrative of The Irish Rebellion’ gives most honourable and prominent mention… the man to whom, in all Ulster, Teeling’s thoughts turned after the disastrous results at Ballynahinch and Blaris Moor[3], with a price on his head, was Eiver Magenis[4], Aughantaraghan, Poyntzpass. He came here, stayed in safety till suspicious rumours got about, and then went to the parish priest, who gave C H Teeling a clerical suit; escaped by night and Eiver Magenis brought him through many difficulties safely to Tadley Magenis’s, in a wild secluded place not far from Camlough, County Armagh, in the very house, I believe, where Charles Canon Quinn, P.P., lives today; and there Mr Teeling remained safely till better times came around.
“Ten years after, Eiver Magenis had a curious dream. There was a crock of gold buried in a corner of his field! He dug for it for two days; no results. On the third morning, early, that Tadley Magenis arrived, drawn by a similar dream, though many miles apart. They dug and dug; no results! Now, how did these two men – many miles asunder, no communication, no conclusion – arrive at the same idea?
“And they were not two ordinary, simple, superstitious farmers… Mr Teeling’s personal narrative tells us that the executive of the United Irishman sent Magenis and Lowry … as head pacificators to N E Ulster on most special service, in which they succeeded. The executive weren’t likely to appoint an illiterate or superstitious man to represent them! They didn’t!
“Yet here we have two men, many miles apart, swayed by a strange dream, coming to dig for gold; Same time, and in the same spot!
“They dug – and dug! Never got it! But never disbelieved their dream! Their solution was that it was there; but that someone came back in the night, after they left, and stole the coveted crock! The ‘Gold Hole’, known to all the neighbours, is still there, and will remain!”
[1] Hornsby & Sons also patented the continuous caterpillar track system for powered vehicles, later adopted for the military tank. The patent was acquired by the Caterpillar Company of the USA.
[2] C H Teeling (1778-1848), was an Irish journalist, writer, and political activist. He was prominent in the Society of United Irishmen and is known for his writings about the 1798 rebellion.
[3] In 1797, four members of a Volunteers regiment were found to be United Irishmen and were executed at Blaris Moor near Lisburn.
[4] The ‘Eiver Magenis’ the writer speaks of is not himself, but to either his eponymously-named grandfather or great-grandfather, a contemporary of Teeling and a fellow member of the United Irishmen.